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WARNING: This story comprises distressing particulars
Whereas Jean Chrétien was minister of Indian affairs, his federal division obtained a number of studies — together with one addressed on to him — of mistreatment and bodily abuse of kids at residential colleges, authorities information present.
Chrétien, Canada’s prime minister from 1993 to 2003, informed a well-liked Radio-Canada speak present on Sunday that he by no means heard about abuse at residential colleges whereas he was minister of what was then referred to as the Division of Indian Affairs and Northern Growth from 1968 to 1974.
A cursory take a look at the historic file reveals that whereas Chrétien was minister, his division obtained a minimum of 4 studies outlining allegations of abuse and mistreatment of kids at St. Anne’s Indian Residential College, which operated within the Fort Albany First Nation, alongside Ontario’s James Bay coast.
The division additionally obtained studies of abuse from different residential colleges throughout his tenure, together with two from one which sat about 130 kilometres north of his hometown of Shawinigan, Que., information present.
“It is a horrible, horrible factor, while you get that previous, you might be nonetheless consumed in all these lies and there’s no disgrace in any respect in what you have performed to different folks within the nation,” stated northern Ontario residential faculty survivor Mike Cachagee, a member of the Chapleau Cree First Nation who attended three colleges.
“It is unhappy. It simply exhibits you that complete side of colonialism and the way entrenched it’s.”
Throughout his look on Radio-Canada’s Tout le monde en parle, Chrétien, 87, stated none of his officers ever informed him about abuse at residential colleges.
“This drawback was by no means talked about after I was minister. By no means,” he stated.
Report that instructor saved weapons, ammunition
But Chrétien’s officers had been fielding studies of abuse throughout his tenure at Indian Affairs at a time when the failure of the residential faculty system was broadly and publicly mentioned.
Beneath Chrétien’s tenure, the federal authorities started taking on direct operations of the establishments in 1969 from the church buildings that ran many of the colleges within the system since its inception.
One letter, dated Dec. 28, 1968, was addressed to Chrétien and handwritten by a instructor who taught at Catholic-run St. Anne’s residential faculty.
The letter outlined issues over how the establishment was run.
“The principle criticism we had centred across the angle of the folks on the mission towards the [Indigenous] folks, which I’d to say is prejudicial,” stated the letter, obtained beneath the Entry to Info Act by NDP MP Charlie Angus, who represents the northern Ontario using of Timmins—James Bay.
No file has but surfaced of a reply.
Chrétien didn’t reply to a request for remark from CBC Information.
“It’s outrageous for Jean Chrétien to attempt to whitewash his function,” Angus stated.
In 1971, federal officers obtained studies {that a} scholar claimed they’d been “mistreated and discriminated in opposition to” by a instructor, and one other scholar claimed they’d been kicked by a workers member, based on an entry within the faculty narrative for the St. Anne’s institution, which is posted on the web site of the Nationwide Centre for Reality and Reconciliation (NCTR).
College narratives define the essential historical past of an establishment and are based totally on federal authorities information. The narratives, compiled by Ottawa, had been a key doc utilized in residential faculty compensation circumstances.
That very same yr, a federal authorities worker reported that one other St. Anne’s instructor saved weapons and ammunition in school to scare college students, based on the narrative. That very same instructor confronted allegations of beating one scholar and kicking one other, the narrative stated.
In 1973, a separate St, Anne’s workers member was “reprimanded for providing alcohol to a minor” staying on the faculty residence and convincing her to drink it, based on the narrative.
The following yr, the college principal wrote the Indian agent in Moose Manufacturing facility, Ont., that the mother and father and an unnamed First Nation band chief deliberate to press fees in opposition to one other instructor at St. Anne’s for kicking a baby within the face throughout a bodily schooling class.
“We now have tried to elucidate the state of affairs to the mother and father and to the chief, however they refuse to acknowledge the truth that it was an accident,” the principal wrote in a Jan, 23, 1974 letter, obtained by CBC Information.
Evelyn Korkmaz, a St. Anne’s residential faculty survivor who lives in Ottawa, stated it damage her to listen to the previous prime minister refuse any accountability for the ache attributable to establishments he oversaw as a authorities minister.
“It is best to simply fess up and say, ‘I screwed up, I am sorry I am human, I appeared the opposite method. I look again in my previous and I remorse that I did,'” Korkmaz stated.
Sexual abuse allegations in opposition to worker
On the Anglican-run La Tuque residential faculty, which sat simply north of Chrétien’s hometown, the federal authorities launched an inquiry in 1971 into allegations {that a} former worker “mistreated kids, together with chopping college students’ hair as punishment for disobedience,” based on the institution’s narrative, posted by the NCTR.
A yr earlier, an worker was suspended and “discharged” from the establishment after 4 former college students went to native police in La Tuque, Que., with allegations they had been sexually abused, based on the narrative, which cites a number of authorities information.
The narrative doesn’t recount what occurred with the complaints.
In 1973, federal officers obtained studies {that a} grandparent of two college students attending Catholic-run Lebret residential faculty in Saskatchewan claimed {that a} supervisor “broke a lady’s arm after which laughed” and that two to 3 supervisors “had been merciless in direction of pupils,” based on the narrative.
“That [Chrétien] did not know there have been cases of abuse is unimaginable,” historian John Milloy stated.
Milloy, a professor emeritus at Trent College in Peterborough, Ont., revealed a guide in 1999 on residential colleges referred to as A Nationwide Crime.
“It was no secret within the division, it would not be a secret in his workplace,” he stated in an interview with CBC Information.
Failure of residential colleges publicly mentioned
Milloy’s guide states that the division recurrently obtained studies of the mistreatment and abuse of kids at residential colleges all through the historical past of the establishments.
By the point Chrétien took over as Indian affairs minister, the failure of the residential faculty system had been publicly mentioned in research and newspaper articles.
On March 28, 1967, the Edmonton Journal reported that the Alberta authorities had tabled a report within the legislature that included interviews with 5 teenage ladies who attended Blue Quills residential faculty. The women stated they left the establishment, accusing a priest of “making advances” towards them.
The report’s writer, Morton Newman, wrote that “Indian Affairs officers corroborated the ladies’ story,” the Journal reported.
That very same yr, the Canadian Welfare Council launched a report by George Caldwell blasting the residential faculty system as a failure, and the federal division agreed, based on Milloy’s guide.
Chrétien, in a 1968 letter, wrote that for Indigenous kids, “remaining a member of the household unit will be extra helpful than the perfect residential faculty care,” based on the guide.
Help is offered for anybody affected by their expertise at residential colleges, and those that are triggered by the most recent studies.
A nationwide Indian Residential College Disaster Line has been set as much as present assist for former college students and people affected. Folks can entry emotional and disaster referral companies by calling the 24-hour nationwide disaster line: 1-866-925-4419
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